Sunday, 28 December 2014

After
the much-publicized cyberattack against Sony that had the rest of the world
blaming North Korea, and the US vowing for retaliation, another news has rocked
the IT world: North Korea's sudden absence from the Internet.

IT
experts noted last Monday that the already small Internet connection of North
Korea was lost and even the state news service, Korean Central News Agency, was
not able to publish any content on that day due to the 9-hour outage.

The Internet blackout came as North Korea's
role in a hacking attack against Sony Pictures is being widely discussed. The
said attack has affected the company adversely that it decided to cancel the
release of the controversial film regarding an assassination of DPRK's ruler
Kim Jong Un.

According
to Hendren Global Group Top Facts,
the cause of outage is still unknown though many are speculating that it might
be the retaliation of US government, or perhaps a mere technical glitch. Here
are some of the speculations that made the rounds online on what's causing the
clog in Pyongyang's Internet pipe:

US
government retaliation. The somewhat incidental timing of last week's outage
has consequently led many to assume that the US had a hand in causing it.
However, a key admin officer from the White House insisted that they are still
discussing the most appropriate way to respond to Pyongyang so it is unlikely
that they played a role in it.

It may
be recalled that US President Barack Obama has previously promised to respond
to the cyberattack made against Sony "in a place and time and manner that
we choose". But before we think that was a declaration of cyberwar, another
expert from Hendren Global Group Top Facts noted that US officials favor a
non-cyber response, seeing as cyberattacks are often "not worth the
risk".

After
all, they can always place North Korea on more economic sanctions.

China
flipped the switch. The only known Internet connection of North Korea runs via
China United Network Communications (Unicom) and though the US has reportedly
asked China to shut down routers and servers utilized by Pyongyang, it remains
to be confirmed if they actually complied.

Hackers.
A certain hacker group named Lizard Squad claimed on their Twitter account that
they caused North Korea to go #offline. Considering that North Korea has only a
small bandwidth, it is certainly plausible for even a few attackers to shut it
down by clogging it with bad traffic (dDOS).

Self-imposed
shutdown. Another possible explanation came from Cloudflare's chief executive
Matthew Prince: "I would have though North Korea decided to turn the
Internet off for some reason."

It
makes sense, for if that's true, it won't be the first time that a government
has shut down access to the Web to maintain tight control over the information
flow.

Hardware
issue or software bug. A researcher from Dyn Inc has put forth a benign cause:
a bug in the country's router or software. Doug Madory commented though that
North Korea's network is much too small so perhaps such an accidental blackout
for 9 hours is still just a small probability.

Apparently, a summit as formal as APEC can now be a source
of amusement for the rest of us who can hardly understand economic jargon.

Hosted by Beijing, the 3-day event was attended by the
leaders of top countries such as Japan, US, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and
Australia. Out of this year's summit came a number of jokes poking fun at world
leaders no less. There's the Shawlgate (Vladimir Putin's chivalrous act of
draping a shawl over the shoulder of Xi Jinping's wife), the gum-chewing of
Barack Obama and of course those 'Star Trek' uniforms (we've heard they're
actually traditional Chinese tunics but the rest of the world decided they are
all cosplaying Trekkies ).

On a more serious note, China backed a free-trade deal for the Asia-Pacific region
-- something that is anticipated to put
her at the forefront of regional commerce.

The regional deal named the Free Trade Area of the Asia
Pacific (FTAAP) was originally from an APEC business panel, but despite prior
comments from various leaders that this proposal could be a distraction, China
still put it as a main agenda of the meeting -- marking the first time it has led such an initiative.

The delegates in turn issued an official statement agreeing
to launch a committee that will conduct a
2-year study of the proposal.

China's Xi Jinping said, "This is a historic step in
the direction of an Asia-Pacific free trade area." He added that APEC
nations must actively promote this pact and "turn the vision into reality
as soon as possible".

Hendren Global Group Top
Facts sees this as counter move to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), US'
own trade agreement with 12 nations, excluding China. The US is advocating the
TPP as means to reroute commerce towards their way, while trying to put
pressure to Beijing to conform to their trade practices. Obama himself believes
that there's a momentum building in favor of TPP's completion.

It seems like an instrument to put China aside and weaken
its economic condition, noted Hendren Global Group Top Facts. China's move to
promote its own trade deal can perhaps lead to a new and stronger status in the
region. It may say its motives does not
include hurting the US but as the biggest trading partner a country can have in
the region, it will inevitably chip away US influence.

Trade officials from the US are downplaying its supposed
adverse effect to their country, saying that the two deals are not really
competitors.

Obama does not seem to be worried as he iterates that the US "welcomes the rise
of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China".

Sunday, 2 November 2014

According
to the news from The Economist, entitled “Economic Convergence: Economic
Headwinds Return”, “Ten years ago, developing economies were catching up with
developed ones remarkably quickly. It was an aberration.”

Reviewing
the decade-and-a-half journey of China from a lagging economy to one that has
surpassed many nations in Europe in terms of average income generation, the
article describes the dire realities that beset the once
sleeping-giant-turned-global-power. Using Hong Kong as the standard by which to
measure economic
growth, average incomes dip to 50% in Shenzhen, to 25% in Guandong and to a
mere 10% in Yunnan. That is an overall average of less than 30% that of Hong
Kong, which is essentially a small dot of an island compared to the gigantic
mainland China teeming with so many millions of people.

The
average annual rate of growth from 2000 to 2009 for developing nations was
7.6%, 4.5% higher than that seen in developed
rich nations. That unprecedented rate practically narrowed down the gap
between the developed and developing countries.

The
once deprived populations of the world, a big majority of whom are found in
Asia and living on less than the global poverty level of $1.25 daily income,
surged on from a share of 30% of the world population in 2000 to less than 10%
as of April 2014, according to the Center for Global Development
based on new date from the World Bank. At that pace, it is estimated that in
only 30 years, the average income per person would converge with that in
America. This is certainly cause for great hope for many people on a global
scale.

Sad to
say, those hopes are now slipping away. An evaluation of data on GDP per person
based on new computations of cost of living released in April by the World
Bank’s International Comparison Programme (ICP) seems to show that convergence
has slowed down drastically.

Since
2008, growth rates across the emerging nations have slowed down and matched
those in developed economies. When the new ICP figures are applied, the average
GDP per capita in the emerging world, measured on a purchasing-power-parity
(PPP) basis, grew just 2.6 percentage points faster than American GDP in 2013.
If China is removed from the estimates, the difference is only 1.1%. At that
rate, convergence with rich-economy incomes will occur in a hundred years or
more, longer than a generation. If China is included, emerging economies could
expect to reach rich-world income levels, on average, in a little over
half-a-century.

Japan,
which achieved industrialization in the first part of the 20th century, grew to
be the world’s second largest economy, next to USA. South Korea, Taiwan and
several city-states like Singapore and Hong Kong also grew and developed into
prosperous nations. The rush to achieve levels of growth close to those of
developing nations became an addiction to these nations and others who needed
to catch up as well. The price paid in terms of investments on human capital
led to social and political problems as some nations had to export their
workers to the industrialized or more prosperous nations. Ironically, the
income generated by those workers help to sustain those nations during the
crises that transpired.

In
trying to explain the growth disparity, economists pointed to institutions
being the key while others focused on “geography and climate”. Moreover, they
said that “remoteness from economic centers and hot, disease-prone conditions
could retard development,” which is the case in many of the Southeast Asian
countries where the issues of rebellion and ethnic differences provide
obstacles to development of the depressed country-sides.

Friday, 22 August 2014

As
a result of the recent devastation caused by Typhoon Glenda
in Southern Luzon, Philippines, consumers now face a shortage of the supply for
basic goods such as chicken, vegetables, fruits. Still reeling from
Super-Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, the strongest typhoon that has hit in a century
or so, the country enjoys one of the highest rates of growth although it
continues to experience insufficient rice harvest and plans to import rice from
neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam.

For
a country that yearly experiences havoc caused by tropical cyclones
and other natural calamities, economic development must constantly take into
account the effects of natural forces on the livelihood of people. Farmers may
lose all the months of hard work through planting and caring for crops in a
single day of strong cyclonic winds or flooding caused by incessant monsoon
rains which can last for more than a week.

In
spite of this reality, the government has not completely adapted to the
cyclical changes in climatic patterns but instead continues to depend upon old
economic policies and strategies that fail to address the fundamental problems.

Yet
there are a few steps any government can implement to minimize the effects of
natural calamities and to prepare the people and make them more capable of
recovering in a shorter period. Let us look at these tips or principles:

1. Doing away with
unsustainable farming techniques

Dependence
on too much use of NPK (nitrogen-phosphate-potassium) fertilizer has led to
leeching of the soil in many countries which followed the western agricultural
paradigm after the last world war. More modern and scientific farming
approaches which replenish all of the essential minerals in an organic manner
will provide a more sustainable and healthier source of nutrition for humans.

It
has been found that NPK fertilizer requires a higher investment than the more
organic approach now more popularly referred to as nutritional or trophobiotic
farming. The latter allows farmers and small gardeners to recover more readily
from stresses experienced by plants during typhoons, floods and pest
infestations.

2. Reviving the Green
Revolution

Encouraging
more people to go into container or backyard gardening and home livestock-
raising will sustain a significant portion of their vegetable and meat supply
domestically with even more healthful options compared to commercial
alternatives. This will also do away with the high prices of such basic goods
due to middle-men and transportation cost-add-ons.

Home-based
gardens and small farms are also less prone to be affected by natural
calamities as they can be housed in green houses or be planted in plastic bags
and recylcled containers which can be raised during floods or moved to safer
areas during storms.

3. Empowering the landless
and the far-flung villages

People
who have no land can still have the opportunity to establish cooperatives with
others and lease or buy small farms which can compete with big farm
corporations with their organically-grown produce. They can also establish
links with like-minded business-people who need their products to address the
problem of transporting goods.

With
more and more families involved in such activities, the big farms will no
longer monopolize the supply of basic goods. These people will also be able to
patronize their own produce or barter their surplus produce with other goods
they need with other producers and manufacturers.

4. Urban farmers can
multiply through the use of idle lands and buildings

Detroit
City, the world’s car-manufacturing center for many years, has recently become
the ironic poster boy of bankruptcy as the economic meltdown of the US in
recent years. Yet, its empty car factories are now slowly being converted into
modern organic multi-levelled farms that will help transform the landscape and
paradigm of economic activity worldwide. This is a parallel strategy which the
Japanese undertook when a law was passed for all high-rise buildings in Tokyo
to put up gardens on rooftops to minimize local as well as global warming.

5. Other modern planting
techniques

Hydroponics,
aquaponics and other indoor gardening and farming techniques can now be easily
done by any individual or family at minimal costs. Governments must encourage
more people to go into this not just to avoid the recurring shortage during
calamities but also to augment the needs of restaurants, hotels and other
businesses that have special or particular needs.

Political
will and economic sufficiency is not merely an exclusive domain of leaders or
governments but a duty of each citizen of any country. To a reasonable degree,
each person can have a stake in that common objective of achieving and
maintaining progress for all nations.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

·It is the
perfect and simple plan: provide qualified employees to employers. Indeed, apprenticeships
allow workers to acquire the very skills they need. But why are apprenticeships
on the wane?

Here is the story:

When you
ask CEOs and corporate manpower staff whether they get the right kind
of workers they need, they will complain about a gap in employee abilities that
put productivity and growth at risk — not only inside their organizations but also
in the greater economy.

·However,
employers and state lawmakers have been distinctly half-hearted about a tested
solution to the pressing issue: apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships
can provide a perfect marriage of the skills employers look for and the
training workers derive, states Robert Lerman, an American University economics
professor.

"It
is a great model for passing on skills from one generation to the next," declares
John Ladd, director of the Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship.

Nonetheless, as the Labor Department
announces, formal programs that unite on-the-job training with mentorships and
classroom education went down 40% in the U.S. from 2003 to 2013.

Which leads us to ask the
question: If the solution to this crucial problem lies in apprenticeships, how
come so much resistance exists?

Blue-Collar Image

It seems the biggest constraint
is that two-thirds of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. apply in the
construction industry, projecting a blue-collar image that dampens enthusiasm
among young people and the companies which could provide jobs for them.
Construction unions, which have wide influence among many of the state agencies
concerning apprenticeships, have not done enough to reach out to other
industries, Mr. Lerman says.

Likewise, entrepreneurs and
managers oftentimes avoid apprenticeships because of their connection with
unions. "There's an underlying fear among employers" that unions want
to interfere by organizing workers, or that any apprenticeship plan might
be controlled by a union, says J. Ronald De Juliis, labor and industry head
at Maryland's Department of Labor.

However, De
Juliis and others admit, things can be entirely different. At present, apprenticeships
involve many more industries than the few trades that welcomed the
earn-and-learn paradigm starting in 1937 when the National Apprenticeship Act
was implemented. Nursing aides, wastewater technicians and computer-system managers
are a few of the jobs for which apprentices can find training in.

At the beginning of this month,
President Obama allocated $100 million for apprenticeship programs in
high-growth industries, and acknowledged new programs in information technology,
health care and supply-chain management.

Still, another constraint is a commonly
held idea that young people should remain in school and then find a job. Supporters
of apprenticeship programs believe this view is ill-advised.

College degrees and internships
do not generate the same quality of worker as thorough, hands-on apprenticeships,
states director Brad Neese of Apprenticeship Carolina, a program of the South
Carolina Technical College System. Companies are seeing "a genuine lack of
applicability when it concerns skill level" from college graduates, Mr.
Neese says. "Interns do grunt work, generally." However, he says,
"an apprenticeship is a real job."

Moreover, some companies are
anxious that employees will leave for better-paying jobs right after they have acquired
their necessary skills. For them, an apprenticeship is like training workers
for other companies to ultimately benefit from.

In many cases, however, employers
discover that apprenticeships actually encourage retention, as workers who go
through apprenticeship programs realize the investment their employers put into
their professional growth and repay the good turn with a greater sense of
loyalty.

"The apprenticeship paradigm
allows us to convince people there is a career path within this company,"
says Robby Hill, owner of HillSouth, a Florence, S.C., technology consulting company
making good use of South Carolina's on-the-job training program.

New employees envision doors
opening for them in the future, along with a distinctly programmed ladder of
skills training and salary improvements, says Mr. Hill, whose 22-person company
provides apprenticeships for IT and administrative-support workers. The company
also requests employees to enter into a non-compete agreement as they get certified
for new skills.

Innovative Thinking

Advocates of apprenticeships claim
that joining on-the-job training with related education and benchmarks can be undertaken
in any job. They cite programs in states such as South Carolina and Wisconsin
as getting positive output.

There are
now apprenticeships for computer professionals and registered nursing aides in
South Carolina, where the number of businesses providing apprenticeships has increased
to 647 from only 90 in 2007. About 4,700 workers who underwent South Carolina's
apprentice program are now employed full-time.

To get employers engaged in
apprenticeships, the state provides a $1,000 yearly tax credit for every
apprentice included in the payroll. "That opens the door somehow," states
Mr. Neese. "For a small business, the credit can erase the education expenses
for an apprentice program.”

"We have endeavored to make
the tax credit as user-friendly as we can," he adds. "We have a very short
one-page form that simply asks, 'How many apprentices are in your firm?' and
then you multiple the number by $1,000."

Wisconsin, which has presently
almost 8,000 apprentices, is working to augment training positions for such
tasks as truck driving as well as high-tech manufacturing.

"We are anticipating employee
deficits in health care and advanced manufacturing," claims director Karen
Morgan of Wisconsin's Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards. The Governor's
Council on Workforce Investment is considering some steps to solve the problem,
she says. The state is launching some programs to apply robotics and high-level
welding to its normal apprenticeship training.

"We are making our programs
more adaptable," Ms. Morgan says, to highlight to manufacturers the importance
that apprenticeships can provide for a sector experiencing fast modernization.

Wednesday, 8 January 2014

Baidu
is the China’s largest internet-search services provider. The good news is that
it has launched its own security software for Android-based smartphones, making
a rival againts Qihoo 360 Technology squarely in its crosshairs.

The start of Baidu Mobile Guardian in Beijing last
December 18, 2013 resulted to the company’s acquisition of TrustGo for a
reported US$30 million in February this year. TrustGo is a California-based
mobile-security company.

Baidu’s competition with
Qihoo has intensified; this competition started in 2005 as a supplier of
anti-virus software online and expanded to become a strong No2 internet search
provider in China last year. Analysys International said Baidu had a combined
72.1 per cent share of the country’s desktop and mobile search market at the
end of September, followed by Qihoo with a 14.2 per cent share.

Mobile Guardian was
designed to fight “a deteriorating security environment for Android smartphone
users in China”, where 70 per cent of about 100,000 virus-carrying mobile apps
were found to be charging users a fee without their knowledge, Zhang Lei, the
general manager at Baidu’s mobile-security product team said.

“This year, 14 million
users were affected and the direct losses amounted to 70 million yuan [HK$89
million],” he said.

Mobile Guardian scans for
malicious fee-charging apps and deletes them, it includes as well an “anti-scam
function” to identify mobile base stations and block messages sent by fake
telecommunications service providers and banks.

However Baidu’s software faces
rigid competition. According to a Barclays report, Qihoo’s mobile-security
software had 338 million smartphone users at the end of June, up from 120
million a year earlier.